How many character meals to do?

[whiterice5]

I am planning my first trip to WDW. I have CRT booked already. I am also thinking of..
Crystal palace...the kids love Pooh
Goofy liberty tavern
Princess storybook at Akershus
and Hoop- De-Doo

That would make 5 total. Is this too much over 8 days for my children? they are 7,5, and 1 1/2.

Thanks,
chris

 

[Okiemom]

That would be too much for my kids, but you know your kids the best.

 

[goodeats]

Hoop Dee Doo is not a traditional character meal, but I think it would be fun for your family.

Character meals are fun, but in general the food is mediocre and the prices are high. I also think you should make them special and not an everyday thing. Obviously there are people here who disagree as you see there ADRs. I personally couldn't handle doing more than 2 on a trip.

 

[LAWalz23]

It would go according to the tolerance levels of your kids as sometimes character meals can get long just waiting for the characters. That said, these would be fine with me and we usually have about the same amount for a week with my niece and nephew, now almost 8. And, the only one you are duplicating would be the Princesses. By the way, they absolutely loved the HDDR this summer and the Princess dinner at Norway was the highlight for my niece as she saw Ariel with legs. Have fun!

 

[2pirates&2tinks]

We just returned from an 8 day trip with 4 kids and we did 8 character meals. Our favorites were Donalds at the AK and PSB. Donalds had great food selection and was very organized. The princesses at PSB were the best at being in character. My kids loved the cinnamon rolls too. My kids range in age from 8-3. We definetly liked the breakfasts more than the dinners. We found we were tired at the end of the day and would have been just fine to eat by the pool at the hotel or CS at the park. We did CRT too and we enjoyed it a lot. You left off Chef Mickeys. We did it twice and my kids would have done it again if they had the choice. I say go for as many character meals as you can. It is such a great way to meet the characters and the food is not bad either! My kids got over 50 autoghraphs/character photos during our week and that was mainly from the meals and the red party bus at Epcot.

 

[Disneyof3]

I also would go with what you think your kids would tolerate. I'm no expert but I've now done 1 per trip and my kids love them. I know though that anymore than 1 my kids would be like, I'm bored can we go. The first year we went I booked only one restaurant CM and that was good. In Feb.05 I booked CP, sci-fi, and the one at fort wilderness park the buffet not the HDDR and my kids would of been happier just eating at a CS instead. It was too much for my kids.

 

[arizonacolbys]

Since Hoop-De-Doo isn't really a character meal - that means you only have 4 character meals in 8 days. That's one every other day, which doesn't seem like too much to me. We usually do 7 or 8 for an 11-12 day trip since we love them so much!

We enjoy the food at all the meals we do & these meals aren't generally more expensive than other sit-down meals. I think with your kids' ages - it is the perfect time to enjoy these character meals. Liberty Tree & Crystal Palace are 2 of our favorites - have fun!!

 

[figmentfan1]

We are doing three...

Breakfastsaurus
CRT (Breakfast)
Crystal Palace (lunch)

plus and ADR at Coral Reef on last night for dinner...

we will be in the parks 6 days.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

May I just suggest the Character Breakfast at the GF (1900 Park Fare). I thought the food was really good for a buffet and the characters were great at being "in character"- even for DH and I who did not have any children with us!

 

[Kaycee]

Hi whiterice5, and welcome to the DIS Boards!

I think the meals you've listed would be fine for an 8 day trip. We've done 3 character meals in a 6 day trip, and we didn't feel like that was too much at all. As others have said, Hoop Dee Doo is a dinner show, not really a character meal, so you'll be doing 4 character meals in 8 days, which is equivalent to our 3 character meals in 6 days - one character meal every two days.

 

[annej]

We are doing 3 at the moment and I am thinking of trying to book a 4th. My kids are 13 and 10 and love them! They like to do these rather than stand in lines in the park. At least you get fed at the same time and we are not picky eaters so not real worried about the food. We will be there we will be there 8 days. Have fun!

 

[Disneyrsh]

We have two girls, 5 and 6, and have been going to disney about 3-5 times a year for about 15 years, and we've found that doing one character meal each time we go works for us, however, if this is going to be a once every few years thing for you, then I'd definitely do the 4 you are thinking of.


I will tell you that we haven't done the Hoop De Doo because my parents took my brother and I when I was 12 (and he was 8) and I have very strong memories of it going on FOREVER! So for that particular (very expensive!) show we're waiting until the girls are teenagers or go by ourselves before we try that one.

For the price, I'd do the show over at the Polynesian-that is down in my childhood memories as one of the BEST experiences ever at Disney as a kid. We plan on doing it for our older daughter's 10th birthday, and then again the next year for our younger daughter's tenth, as well.

FWIW, Crystal Palace and 1900 Park Faire are our two favorite character meals because they're fairly relaxed and the food is terrific. Some of the other ones are noisy (chef mickey's) or the food's kinda blech (Liberty Tree), but all are worth doing.

 

[scubamouse]

we did 2 the last time and 2 this time.

we're doing lunch at CRT and a dinner at Chef Mickey's. I think the bordom issue will be ok since the characters are soooooo different.

last time we did a CP w/pooh and gang and dinner at the restaurant in the land w/mickey and friends - again a mix of characters.

our kids will be 4 and 5 when we travel

 

[1princessX2princes]

We did four on a 6 day trip: Breakfastasaurus at AK, Crystal Palace dinner, Lunch at CRT, and Lunch at Akershus. My kids DS5, DD3, DS20months, enjoyed them. Personally, DH and I enjoyed the breather and it was a good way for us to meet characters and not stand in line. Foodwise I thought lunch at CRT was the best.

 

[whiterice5]

I got CRT for lunch!!! Also plan to book CP. Other TS I am trying for is Coral reef, HBD (this one was for me) fantasmic package and Hoop-De Doo. DH said we could splurge for the dining plan...otherwise we would not be doing all these. This is what I call a true vacation...no cooking!
Chris

 

[coliebird]

We just did all of those last week with the exception of CRT. We had Liberty Tree Tavern before the Halloween party. One day we had lunch at Crystal Palace and I took my daughter for the Princess Storybook Lunch at Askershus. We also did the Hoop De Doo one night, which she LOVED. My daughter is 3 and it was not too much for her. I spaced them out over the week.

If you think it might be too much, you don't need both Princess meals. You could do either CRT of the Storybook one.

 

[Eeyore2003]

My brother and family went with us a year ago July my niece was 7, she liked the rides pretty much, but her favorite thing was getting autographs. She was so proud of her autogragh book. I guess remembering what my kids were like, it was a much more enjoyable meal for us to have them occupied with characters etc., instead of whining and crying that the meal was "taking too long". No matter how "fancy" the food is, that kind of "spoils" the meal!!!

We didn't do that many then, only because we were kind of "Disney Illiterate" when they were little and had no idea this many existed.

Next month I am doing 6 with my neice, mostly princess ones, but I've planned it so that there are very few duplicate characters. Ohana's is also fun for kids with broom/coconut races and hoola hooping. I've never been there but Whispering Canyon Cafe is fun. Trying that one in November. I also definitely agree, that on really busy days, you might want to just get something at the resort and bring it to your room or the pool and relax. That's important too. Another thing to do, would be to take a break at the resort for lunch/swim/nap, and then they'll be refreshed and "happier" for a nice character meal dinner.

 

[annie1995]

I am planning my first trip to WDW. I have CRT booked already. I am also thinking of..
Crystal palace...the kids love Pooh
Goofy liberty tavern
Princess storybook at Akershus
and Hoop- De-Doo

That would make 5 total. Is this too much over 8 days for my children? they are 7,5, and 1 1/2.

Thanks,
chris

We also loved Garden Grill at Epcot. Crystal palace is really good, and so is liberty tree tavern. As for it being too much , It would probably depend on what season you are going. We went in September during free dining, and it was perfect. The characters were coming to our tables sometimes even before we were able to put our stuff down. We never had to wait. We ended up doing like 6 character meals total. We did Crystal Palace twice for breakfast, once for dinner, chef mickeys for dinner, liberty tree tavern for dinner, and Garden Grill also for dinner. It's a great way to meet characters without the lines and standing in the heat! Have a great trip!

 

[Disneyrsh]

Garden grill has changed recently, and from what I've heard, not for the better.

Might want to check on that one on the restaurant boards...


Did the Coral Reef for my birthday a few years ago and *loved* it. We're aquarium nuts, though.

 

[annie1995]

Garden grill has changed recently, and from what I've heard, not for the better.

Might want to check on that one on the restaurant boards...

I heard that is was not that good also, but we needed a resturant in Epcot so we decided to try it even though we had heard bad things about the new menu. I did not find anything bad about it. They bring it out to your table family style, and I kind of figured the meat would be dried out a bit, but it really was good! The kids also loved the rotating resturant too! Anyway, it's just my two cents worth!